K for Kheema (mince) on crackers

My family has always been crackers over Cream Crackers and we treat them like toast, slathered with strange and various toppings. The origins of this version go way back to the 1930s when my grand-aunt, Ini, was a young child.

Apparently, there was this one time when the large and extended family had all gone on a day long picnic. In those days, restaurants didn’t quite exist and food was either taken along or cooked on the spot. The custom in my grandaunt’s family was to take the family cook or ‘khansama’ along so that they could all enjoy some hot food, alfresco.

Fresh air and the outdoors bring on the hunger pangs rather quickly – after all, the whole point of a picnic is the food! Now, the cook didn’t relish being checked on every half an hour by a gang of hungry kids. So he served them mince on crackers to keep the little mouths busy and the tummies full enough to stop them from annoying him while lunch was cooking.

I remember eating this while we were waiting for many a late Sunday lunch to be brought to the table. Clearly, my grandaunt had learnt the secret to calming rumbling bellies while lunch was still on the hob.

The days of cooking a picnic alfresco may have long passed, but kheema on mince is here to stay, at least in our family.